Chan Meditation Is Using the Mind Consciousness to Investigate Tathāgatagarbha

Investigating Chan means that we use the conscious mind of seeing, hearing, knowing, and perceiving to seek out the tathāgatagarbha, which is without seeing, hearing, knowing, and perceiving. If one wishes to see the mind and see one's nature, one must use the method of investigating Chan and investigating a huatou. Investigating Chan and investigating a huatou means using the conscious mind—using the consciousness that can know mental phenomena and possesses the mental factor of wisdom—to investigate the tathāgatagarbha; only the conscious mind has this functional nature. Moreover, when investigating the tathāgatagarbha, one must investigate Him with sufficient meditative concentration (samādhi). It is best if a questioning doubt can arise in the mind—doubt toward all the activities of one's own five aggregates (pañca-skandha)—with that questioning doubt constantly suspended in the mind, or with a huatou suspended there, and then to examine the questioning doubt, and finally one can resolve the questioning doubt.

Do not use the conscious mind to roughly analyze, deliberate, and imagine; such emotional thinking and intellectual understanding is at most an intellectual awakening, not genuine realization, and cannot give rise to wisdom—perhaps one cannot even achieve intellectual awakening. If one has an intellectual awakening rather than genuine realization, prajñā wisdom will be very difficult to arise, the path ahead will be very difficult to walk, and afflictions will not be easy to subdue. It would be better to first lay a solid foundation in all respects and then seek enlightenment; if one awakens after laying a solid foundation, the wisdom will be deep and sharp, afflictions can be effectively subdued, and one will gain genuine benefit of merit and virtue.